


if all it is is eight letters (why is it so hard to say)

by butimalsonothappy



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Buffy cried, Buffy's sad, Crying, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jonah was busy, Just enjoy, Marty's supportive, Military Family, Pat got deployed, do i have to say any more?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 10:55:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20338972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butimalsonothappy/pseuds/butimalsonothappy
Summary: Pat got deployed again and Buffy's sad about it. She had explained this to Jonah but when Jonah can't talk Marty's up for the job within seconds.





	if all it is is eight letters (why is it so hard to say)

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is based on my favorite Why Don't We song "8 Letters"...do i regret this...not at all...enjoy please

** _‘You know my worst, see me hurt, but you don’t judge. That, right there, is the scariest feeling’_ **

With a geography test coming up in two days, it wasn’t necessarily weird to find Buffy in her bedroom researching whatever the heck topography was on her laptop. She stopped when she heard a knock on her door.

“Come in!” She closed her laptop and geography book, pushing them to the side of her bed as she sat up. 

Pat walked in and sat next to her daughter. “Sweetie, I have something to tell you.” she said this in the voice that she only used when she was going to say that she was deployed.

Buffy felt the tears well up before she could even put out the next sentence, “What is it?”

“Well,” Pat pulled Buffy in for a hug and whispered into her ear, “I got deployed again.”

Buffy pulled her mom tighter towards her and cried silently into her shoulder. She knew better than to try to argue against her mom leaving at this age, she knew she wouldn’t have a say in it. “Okay.” she finally said. 

After they pulled away, her mom gave her a quick kiss on the head and walked out of her room with a quiet trembling, “Goodbye, Sweetie.”

Buffy just smiled as happily as she could at the moment for her mom. She needed to be strong for her mom, she always told herself that. She did smile at the memory of explaining that to Jonah. He had been understanding and supportive, exactly what she needed right now. She decided she would call Jonah to see if he could talk. 

“Buffy?” he sounded surprised that she had called him. 

She tried to sound decent as she responded, “Uh, hey. I just wanted to uh, talk.” She knew she didn’t sound even close to okay but she hoped that as oblivious as Jonah can be that he wouldn’t ask about it right now. 

“Buffy, are you okay? I know I’m not the most observant person but I can tell that there’s definitely something wrong.”

He was right and she knew it but she didn’t know how to respond so she just sighed and said, “Can we talk in person though? I can’t explain over the phone. But if you’re busy I’ll talk to someone else but you understand it so I just thought…” she trailed off when she realized she was starting to ramble. 

“Yeah, sorry, Buffy. I actually am kinda busy right now but Marty’s leaving my house now so if you want to talk to him you can, you know? I know what you want to talk about and I think he’ll understand.” she could hear Marty questioning Jonah in the background and Jonah whispering for him to shut up. 

“What do you mean he’ll understand? And do you really think he’d even want to talk to me right now?” If Marty was just hanging out with human sunbeam Jonah Beck then he probably wouldn’t want to talk to Buffy right now seeing as she was pretty close to breaking down again.

“Yeah he will. He just said he will. Didn’t you, Marty?” She heard Marty say something that sounded like a yes in the background. 

“Can you tell him to come to my house?” Buffy asked almost shyly as she twirled a curl of hair around her finger. It  _ was  _ kind of a weird question, Marty had only been to her house one time after all. He had been the one in the group to take her homework to her once when she was home sick in bed. 

She heard Jonah and Marty talking but they had obviously moved from the phone. She finally heard Jonah pick up the phone, “He said that he can come over if you text him the address because he doesn’t remember. Sound good? Again, sorry, I would come over but I have some stuff to do at Red Rooster.” he sighed on the other side of the phone, Buffy could actually hear the eye roll in his voice.

“Okay. Wait, let me see if I still have his number.” She knew she did, they sent each other texts and memes all the time, but see if Marty questions it right? “Yeah, I’ll text him. Well, tell Bowie I said hi.”

“Got it. Talk to you later, Buff.” And with that the call ended. 

Buffy quickly sent her address to Marty after checking to see if her mom’s car wasn’t still in her driveway. She threw her phone back onto her pillows and flopped on her back on the bottom of the bed. She let the tears she had been fighting during the phone call fall as she covered her mouth with her hand in an attempt to stifle the noise. 

When she heard knocking on the door a few moments later, she remembered that her and Jonah did live somewhat close together so she shouldn’t be confused that it was so soon. She wiped her eyes rather harshly and walked out to the front door that leads into her kitchen.

What she expected to be relief to have someone to talk to turned to nerves and stress as she realized her state at the moment. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face was drained of happiness. “Hey.” she attempted to play it casual even though anyone, especially Marty who could read her like a book, could tell that she was anything but okay at the moment. 

“Aw, Buffy, what’s wrong?” as soon as Marty spoke, having that understanding and sympathetic smile that he always did, she knew she was done. 

Her eyes welled up with tears and her body shook involuntarily when she tried to answer him. Before she could even actually get out one word, let alone sentence, she started crying and shaking as she fell into the hug Marty had offered when he saw her state.

She was crying into his shoulder as she remembered that they were still standing in the doorway. So she backed out of the hug and pulled Marty inside as she shut the front door. She kept the crying at the most minimum she could manage until she got Marty and her to her bedroom, where she collapsed face up on her bed, and resumed stifling the sound of her crying with her hand. 

At some point Marty had walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, pulling her into a hug and letting her cry into his shoulder. He didn’t want to force her to talk so he waited for her to talk if she wanted to. 

“She’s l-l-leaving a-a-gain.” Buffy tried to get out through uneven breaths and tears after a few minutes of just crying into her friend’s shoulder. She had lifter her face away from Marty’s shoulder but still was wrapped in a hug. 

Marty didn’t know what to say at first because he didn’t know who the she was or where the she was going. “It’s okay, Buff. Breathe with me, okay?” he paused to try to get Buffy to mirror his breaths, “Who’s leaving? If you wanna tell me that is.” He didn’t want to risk the friendship with the girl by being too pushy about something that was clearly a touchy and sensitive subject. Though he did have an idea about what was upsetting the girl.

“My...my mom.” Marty felt bad for the girl, even if his guess of what was going on was just that, a guess. 

With that sentence Buffy fell back into Marty’s shoulder, shaking and crying again, but harder than when she had pulled away. 

Marty knew that his words would be pretty useless at this point, so he just pulled her tighter towards him and rubbed circles into her back while rocking her gently. 

Eventually, Buffy pulled away again after her crying stopped and her breaths evened out again. “I’m sorry, I’m such a mess right now.” she laughed bitterly to herself and it broke Marty’s heart to see her so upset. He couldn’t even tell you that he didn’t the girl, he had since that party. 

“Buffy, if you want to talk you can tell me anything, you know.” Marty reassured her, still rubbing circles into her back. 

_ ‘**Now here we are, staring at the ceiling’** _

His eyes had started to wander around her room though. From the purple color of the walls to the intricate details of the pillows and curtains and back to the probably half asleep girl next to him. She was probably exhausted from crying, he knows he would be.

“I know.” he finally heard her whisper quietly, slurred by a yawn. He felt her intertwine their hands and reposition herself so she was laying face up at the ceiling, head against Marty’s stomach. 

“Who knew The Slayer was so cuddly when she was exhausted and sad?” he tried to joke. He felt Buffy shake and assumed she was crying again so he got ready to comfort her, only to realize that she was instead laughing hard enough that she couldn’t breathe.

Marty liked making her laugh, it was a good thing that he was good at it, too, considering she had just had a breakdown. And he liked watching her laugh, it was a really cute sight to him. He started laughing too. Slowly their laughing turned to giggles and breathlessness.

“My mom is in the military. And she got deployed again today and I was sad, obviously.” Buffy said quickly, starting to blush at the fact that she was laying on Marty’s stomach and was holding his hand at that. But he hadn't pulled away, so she decided today was the day, she was telling him.

“Aw, I’m sorry, Buff. It’ll be okay, we’re here for you.” Marty squeezed her hand which he felt Buffy squeeze back. 

“Thanks. And, Marty?” Buffy felt the nerves but she didn’t let them show.

“Hm?”

_ This is it, now or never.  _ Buffy thought to herself before taking a deep breath and starting, “I like you and I get if you don’t feel the same way but I don’t want anything to change so I had to tell you so that we can stay friends but please don’t sugarcoat it if you don’t like me just-”

“Buffy.” Marty cut her off. 

** _‘I’ve said those words before but it was a lie, and you deserve to hear them a thousand times’_ **

“I like you, too. But I do want things to change.” Marty said with the goofiest smile. 

“Wait, what do you want to change?” Buffy asked slightly worried if she wasn’t lying. 

“Would you like to be my girlfriend? For real this time?” Marty went bright red and laughed quietly. 

“Yes, Marty, I would love to be your girlfriend.” Buffy sat up, keeping their fingers intertwined, but sitting up to look Marty in the eyes. 

If you asked either one of them what happened the rest of the night, neither of them would be able to tell you, there was laughter and kisses, but they had a good sleepover, up until at least two in the morning. Even if her mom getting deployed was the reason Marty had come over in the first place, she is so much more happier about the situation then she would’ve been without someone there to comfort her, especially her amazing boyfriend.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! i worked on this during vacation too so it probably isn't the best but i tried! comments and kudos appreciated, i answer all comments!


End file.
